Senior RBI Official Arrested In Bengaluru For Alleged Involvement In Illegal Currency Exchange

The Enforcement Directorate earlier in the day seized ₹93 lakh in new currency notes from seven middlemen here.

BENGALURU -- A Senior Special Assistant of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Bengaluru for his alleged involvement in currency exchange.

The Enforcement Directorate earlier in the day seized ₹93 lakh in new currency notes from seven middlemen here.

One of the ED officials presented himself as customer to these middlemen.

The middlemen had some link with bank officials.

The Enforcement Directorate is conducting further investigation to ascertain the links.

Since 8 November, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government's move to demonetise high-denomination currency of ₹500 and ₹1000, many cases of seizure of new cash has come to light.

Recently, ₹13.50 crore were seized by the Income Tax Department from a law firm in Delhi's Greater Kailash out of which ₹2.61 crore were in new currency.

Earlier in the city, four bank officers were accused by the police of converting black money after ₹5.7 crore cash was seized from a hawala operator.

While endless queues at banks and ATMs reflect a cash crunch and less than adequate number of ₹500 and 2,000 notes, crores in new cash has been found in raids across the country over the past few weeks.